Abstract
Sideritis perfoliata L. subsp. perfoliata is an endemic species of the Eastern Mediterranean region with several uses in traditional medicine. The present study aims to explore the unknown properties of S. perfoliata investigating the nutritional content as well as the antioxidant, anticancer, antituberculosis, antiwrinkle, anti-acne, hyper/hypo-pigmentation and antibacterial activities. Mineral content, nutritional value, the composition and antioxidant properties of the essential oil, the antityrosinase, the antibacterial activity and anti-elastase potential of the extract, were evaluated. The antiproliferative activity of S. perfoliata against cervical cancer (HeLa), human melanoma (UCT-Mel-1), human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) and human epidermoid carcinoma (A431) was investigated. Cytotoxic effects on normal human keratinocyte (HaCat) and kidney epithelial (Vero) cell lines were also determined. Sideritis perfoliata exhibited high nutritional value of proteins and minerals (K, P, Mg, Fe, Zn, Cu). The most abundant components of the essential oil were found to be α-pinene, β-phelladrene, valeranone, β-pinene and sabinene. The ethanolic extract of S. perfoliata displayed moderate antioxidant potential and antibacterial activity against Prevotella intermedia. Noteworthy elastase and moderate anticancer potential against the human liver cancer cell line (HepG2) was observed with IC50 values of 57.18 ± 3.22 μg/mL and 64.27 ± 2.04 μg/mL respectively. The noteworthy in vitro activity of S. perfoliata could be due to the presence of flavonoids and phenols in the leaves, having high nutritional value. Sideritis perfoliata could potentially be useful to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and for the treatment of liver cancer. The moderate antibacterial, antioxidant and elastase activity of the plant can be linked to the traditional use of S. perfoliata for the treatment of wounds and inflammation.
Highlights
The genus Sideritis, belonging to the Lamiaceae (Labiatae) family, is comprised of more than 150 species
This species has a high nutritional value, with 14.64% of protein which is higher than numerous edible species which form part of the Lamiaceae family
Like the majority of Sideritis species, it is rich in micronutrients as previously described when compared to the potassium, phosphorus and magnesium content of S. scardica or S. raeseri [31,32]
Summary
The genus Sideritis, belonging to the Lamiaceae (Labiatae) family, is comprised of more than 150 species. The genus is further divided in 2 subgenera and 7 sections [1]. The subgenus Sideritis divided into four sections includes approximately 125 species, the majority of which are distributed in the Antioxidants 2019, 8, 521; doi:10.3390/antiox8110521 www.mdpi.com/journal/antioxidants. It is crucial to distinguish the different Sideritis species and it is for this reason that secondary metabolites, in particular diterpenoids and flavonoids, are used for the chemotaxonomic identification of species within the genus [1]. Modern methods such as high resolution melting analysis (HMR)
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